On 9 Dec 2020 at 18:04, paul dove via EV wrote: > Lithium is not an issue. One of the most common minerals and a very small > amount is in a battery cell
I take it you didn't read the article I linked to, because it sure as heck IS an issue, and a BIG one, for people who live near where a lithium mine is being proposed. If you run the numbers (I did) you get an increase in lithium demand *just for Europe's EVs* from 3,763 metric tonnes in 2019 to 54,250 tonnes in 2030. That's a 1,342% increase. One thousand three hundred forty-two percent. In 2019, by my calculations, EVs sold in the EU absorbed 4.9% of world lithium production. If lithium production stays flat over the years to 2030, EU EVs will take 70% of the lithium mined. Seventy percent. Just for EVs sold in the EU. Even if you extrapolate lithium production increases since 2010, EU EV sales alone would STILL require over 20% of the increased total. And that already means opening more mines. And I'm talking only EU EVs! I'm not even figuring in the rapidly growing EV market in China, or growing sales of hand held portable gadgets. Nor am I including battery replacement for old EVs. I also used some pretty conservative numbers, such as only 40% EV uptake by 2030 despite laws requiring 100% EV sales by then in some EU countries. I also assumed that total vehicle sales will only grow 1% per year, and that the amount of lithium per kWh in batteries decreases by 29%. To put batteries in all those EVs, the world is going to have to mine a LOT more lithium. Do you want to live close to one of those lithium mines? I sure don't, but Portugal is not a large country, and plenty of people are going to be living near them if Portugal exploits its lithium deposits. Read the article again with the above numbers in mind. I think you'll see the problem. If we don't find a battery that uses more common materials, we'd better get really good really fast at recycling lithium and other materials from spent EV batteries. Because right now, it's cheaper to mine it, and as in everything else in the vehicle world, cost is all that matters. David Roden, EVDL moderator & general lackey To reach me, don't reply to this message; I won't get it. Use my offlist address here : http://evdl.org/help/index.html#supt = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = I saw a sign on a guy's garage that said "Don't even think about parking here." So you know what I did? I sat right there and I thought about it. I yelled up at his window, "Hey buddy, I'm thinking about it. Go ahead, call the cops. I'll just tell them I was thinking about something else." -- Paula Poundstone = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub ARCHIVE: http://www.evdl.org/archive/index.html INFO: http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
